Full Transcript

There are times in all of our lives that we take matters into our own hands and simply ignore God. There can certainly be a price to pay, but what happens when God makes a promise, as he did with Paul in Acts 27? We’re excited to have Margie Biasado back again with her insight as she explains. Let’s set sail for Rome. Hi, I’m Margie, and this is Share the Word. Today I couldn’t decide on the title, whether it’s Shipwrecks of Life or Victory at Sea, so I guess you can decide.

But since today’s lesson is about a shipwreck, so is the joke. All right, you ready? Apparently, cannibals agree that people who have been on multiple shipwrecks taste better. You could say they prefer seasoned survivors. Well, if that’s true, then the Apostle Paul would have been super yummy, as he was shipwrecked not once, not twice, but thrice. And today we are discussing one of those dramatic events in Acts 27.

Not only is this account fabulously written, but it shows something pretty amazing about the Apostle Paul: his attitude, his character, his focus, and the source of his power. This insane adventure was recorded by Dr. Luke, who is also the author of the Gospel of Luke. Dr. Luke is giving a firsthand account of this unfolding drama, which he experienced right along with the Apostle Paul. By the way, this chapter is not only appreciated for its spiritual content, but But it has been referred to as a practical account of ancient seamen.

So, when the chapter opens, Paul and his companions are headed to Rome to have an audience with Caesar. As a Roman citizen, it was Paul’s right to have his case heard by a government official. And as we have seen from the previous chapters, Paul’s trial kept getting passed from one nervous Roman official to the next, finally resulting in an audience with Nero, the Caesar at the time. Though he is a prisoner on trial for his life, Paul enters this situation with great confidence, because Jesus himself told Paul in Acts 23:11, Take courage, as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify in Rome. We see that Paul, along with some other prisoners, was assigned a Roman centurion named Julius to escort him to Rome. Julius was a man of authority and position.

He was part of what is called the Imperial Regiment, which is a group of veterans of war who were honored after active service by protecting either the royal family or a general, rather than being put into pasture. I can’t help but wonder what Julius was thinking in regards to this assignment, being given this Jewish prisoner to guard with his life. Not a terrorist, a zealot, a warrior. He doesn’t even have any threatening followers. Just this one single little Jewish scholar. I imagine that this big bad soldier was not too thrilled about this detail.

But it seems that God chose the best for Paul. Because as the story unfolds, we see that Julius shows kindness and respect towards Paul. While reading this narrative, it’s easy to get caught up in the fury and the terror at sea. From the beginning, the ship is struggling against the winds, hopping along the interior of the Mediterranean coastline, port to port, then popping over to the island of Crete. That is where we find Paul, this one man, a prisoner, addressing the ship’s crew. I imagine him yelling a warning over the howling winds in Acts 27:10, saying, Men, I see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to the ship and the cargo and possibly to our own lives.

But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and the owner of the ship. So, rather than listen to Paul’s suggestion that they hunker down and stay put in the harbor until the storm had passed, Julius, the centurion, listens to the captain and the owner of the ship. Bad move. Almost immediately, the hurricane winds of the nor’easter pick up, and we can sense their despair, their tension, even their seasickness as they drift, unable to guide the ship through the deep darkness. They have no control, no hope, no Coast Guard coming to rescue them. They are utterly alone, experiencing sheer horror on the open sea.

After undergoing some wild times in hurricanes myself on terra firma, I can only imagine their deep sense of helplessness and fear. In this insane and desperate situation, we again hear from the prisoner Paul in Acts 27, 21 through 26. Men, he says, you should have taken my advice and not sailed from Crete. Then you would have spared yourself this damage and loss. Little side note here. As a mom, I love how Paul begins with, You should have taken my advice.

Nonetheless, Paul goes on to reassure them that God has got this. He says, Now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night, an angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, stood beside me and said, Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you. So, men, keep your courage up, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. And then he adds this little P.S. here.

Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island. By giving this impassioned pep talk, Paul is leading the charge, spiritually and emotionally. He’s using God’s word and God’s promises of deliverance to give hope in these desperate circumstances. However, it is not a quick fix. The Bible says that after two long weeks, at around midnight, the sailors sound the depths. They do that with long ropes and chains to find evidence that land is near.

And hallelujah, just as God said, the ship becomes grounded, stranded on a sandbank. Seemingly, this is the end of the nightmare. But no! The sailors then begin to panic and pretend to drop more anchors, but in reality, they’re dropping lifeboats so they can hustle on out of there. Again, our man, the prisoner Paul, addresses Julius and company in Acts 27:31. Paul said to the centurion and the sailors, Unless these men stay on the ship, you cannot be saved.

So with that, Julius commands the soldiers to cut the ropes, and the last of their hope falls away, or I guess in this case, floats away. But then we hear Paul practically encourage everyone again, prisoner and free, passengers and crew, in Acts 27:33 through 38. He says to them, For the last 14 days you have been in constant suspense. You have gone without food. You haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food.

You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head. After this, Paul took some bread and he gave thanks to God in front of all of them. Then he broke it and he began to eat. Therefore, they were all encouraged and ate food for themselves. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.

Paul urges them to do the right thing, in this case, eat food to strengthen and sustain themselves for the next challenge. Paul gives them bread for physical strength, encouragement for their souls. And a spiritual example by blessing the food. To me, this is so reminiscent of Jesus feeding the masses. First, the prayer thanking God in heaven, then the breaking of the bread, and finally everyone having their fill. Now, once the crew, through the green overboard, they see the last of their supplies sink beneath the raging water.

They must have thought now the crisis is finally over. But no! Now the huge waves get into the mix, and the surf begins to destroy what remains of the ship. Suddenly, the passengers are scrambling for dear life, and the soldiers begin to plot to kill all of the prisoners, most likely so they don’t need to care for them or guard them any longer as they’re trying to save themselves. But besides that, for a Roman soldier, it was sure death to lose a prisoner on your watch. So it was better to say they drowned at sea than they escaped.

But once again, God intervened through Julius. This centurion clearly took his job seriously regarding Paul, getting him safely to Rome. He very practically orders those who can swim to jump in and paddle to shore, and those who cannot swim, he guides to shipboards to be used as lifeboats. And lo and behold, just as God promised, though the ship is destroyed, all 276 passengers, all 276 souls were accounted for, safe, spared, and on the island of Malta. Whoop and yay God. I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted and relieved and ready for a nap now.

No doubt, the ebb and flow of this report is captivating. But to me, one of the most interesting parts of this story is to see how the Apostle Paul, as a man of God, reacts under pressure. Not just any pressure, but extreme circumstances of discomfort and danger. These are the places where one’s true character and faith is most likely to be revealed. We’ve seen many sides of the Apostle Paul thus far in the Book of Acts. But here, he stands as the calm in the chaos.

At a time when these realistic men, the men’s men, the sailors and the soldiers, are all in a state of panic, the man of God, that little old prisoner, is seen as confident, firm, and full of sound common sense. This spoke so much to me. As much of life nowadays feels like a ship about ready to crash. Dangerous, disappointing, one emergency or crisis after another. Crashing waves and looming sandbars. I was just interacting with a CLS member recently, one whose husband is facing a brain tumor and lung cancer, while both of her daughters-in-law have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

I asked her if she was feeling like Job. I know I would. Instead, she quoted the Apostle Paul. From 2 Corinthians 4, she said, Though we are hard-pressed on every side, we are not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

Wow. Now that is how I want to face my shipwrecks, with her kind of hope and confidence, with Paul’s kind of hope and confidence. Rather than focusing on the wreckage, they see their crisis as a victory at sea. And this chapter reminds me that I can too. This chapter is all about relying on God for wisdom, peace, and authority in the midst of the storm. Hey, we all have something going on in our lives, every single one of us, that we are unable to navigate, control, or steer.

But rather than feeling frightened and helpless and hopeless while adrift, we can respond just like the Apostle Paul. If we’re followers of Jesus, it’s much easier because we have the same resources that Paul had: the Word of God, the promises of God, faith, prayer, fellow believers, and the power of the Holy Spirit. In these difficult, disastrous circumstances, we see the Holy Spirit within this human being, Paul, bringing blessing to everyone around him. Here are just a few ways that the Holy Spirit was manifested in Paul in Acts 27 in regards to wisdom. Paul was constantly asking the Holy Spirit for guidance and direction and wisdom, so undoubtedly he asked for wisdom from the Lord in this situation as well. And we see right from the beginning, Paul received a clear conviction that in spite of the winter discomfort, they should stay where they were.

Otherwise, the voyage would be a disaster. And I get it. To these expert seamen, that looked crazy loco, contrary to man’s understanding. But we know what happened. The centurion took the pilot’s and the owner’s human advice over God’s wisdom. And look where that got him.

Throughout the Bible, we find that the same biblical principle for all believers in tight spots. James 1:5 says, If any of you lack wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. God promised that when we lack wisdom, in my case that’s most of the time, we shall be given wisdom if we ask in faith. In regards to having peace, again and again, Paul turned to God in times of danger and therefore received peace through the Holy Spirit. In this situation, God gave Paul a sustaining comfort first, and then Paul was able to depart comfort to others. Paul became a vehicle of blessing and encouragement to the crew and the prisoners, even in the darkest of circumstances.

Again, this scripture addresses this issue elsewhere. Philippians 4:7, Paul again says, And the peace of God, which transcends all human understanding, will guard your heart and minds in Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we too can face fearful, chaotic, and trying events in our lives with great peace and comfort. The Holy Spirit gave Paul authority. Although Paul was a prisoner and only one man against the Roman centurion, the Roman guard, the captain, the owner of the ship, and the terrified, self-seeking sailors, he was empowered to speak boldly by the Spirit and to offer them direction and courage. In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul describes where his power and authority come from.

He said, And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but a demonstration of the Spirit and the power of God, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Paul knew and declared God’s will with a mantle of authority and a supernatural dignity. And if we are Christ followers, we can too, even against all odds and opposition. Lastly, Paul led others with a passion and practical common sense. Paul urged all of the men. He said, Eat.

You have been in constant suspense and have gone without food. Later he said, You haven’t eaten anything for 14 days. I urge you to take food. You need it to survive. Paul was a blessing to the whole ship. He encouraged them to protect and preserve their health.

He knew that they needed the strength to sustain them, to cooperate with the deliverance that God had promised. Again, Scripture proves Scripture, and we can compare Paul’s words in Acts to Luke 8:55, where Jesus commanded that the little girl, whom he had just raised from the dead, be fed immediately for strength and sustenance. Our Jesus relied on direction, instruction, and guidance of the Holy Spirit. And if Jesus and Paul had to rely so strongly on the Holy Spirit, how much more should we? In this case, the practical lesson is we must use discipline and common sense in regards to our body as Christ’s disciples, for our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Acts 27 holds so many examples and encouragements for us today.

You may feel like you were adrift on the open seas. Your life feels like a shipwreck: dangerous, desperate, depressing, disappointing. Maybe you are surrounded by threatening and challenging people. You’re facing one emergency or crisis after another, crashing waves and looming sandbars. Well, perhaps you could try to rely on the same resources that Paul relied upon for his victory at sea: the promises of God, hope, prayer, and the power of the Holy Spirit. To help you navigate through troubled waters with wisdom, peace, authority, and being a blessing to others in the storm.

This is Margie Biasotto, and this was Share the Word. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks, Margie. As always, another amazing episode. Listen, if you’re just joining us, we want you to know that all those bringing you these podcasts on this side of the microphone, they spend a great deal of time to bring you the big ideas of the gospel, chapter by chapter. Share the Word is a Great Commission project, and we all feel the best way to learn your way through the New Testament is one chapter at a time.

I, for one, truly enjoy listening to Paul, Margie, and all those who contribute to Share the Word to bring you an in-depth understanding. Thanks again, and from all of us at Share the Word, our blessings and prayers go out to all of you.